This blog is intended to cover side issues emerging from the discussions of artefact collecting (including metal detecting) on my "Portable Antiquities and Heritage Issues" blog. This allows answering misleading points which may require it without sidetracking of other discussions onto unrelated topics, thus freeing the main blog for more serious stuff.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Big Mick warns

stop trying to stir up trouble for all the law abiding metal detectorist over here in the UK. Watch out for a new web site called anti-heritageactiongroup.co.uk. A word of friendly advise! (sic) we know who and where you are.

So far the promised website has failed to appear. Clicking on the sender's name to see his profile reveals that it links to a server called "commingsoonanti-heritageactiongroup.co.uk". (The double 'm' spelling mistake perhaps more revealing of Big Mick's favourite viewing material on the internet maybe?). This kind of activity is nothing new, we saw the libellous "Barfordisation" blog a while back attacking the writer of this blog , the warped "Wikipedia" page its author created "about" me. We have seen (here on this blog) the efforts of metal detectorists of the UK trying to find my home address and threaten retaliation for some things I have said about artefact hunting. A Californian coin dealer fantasizes on his blog about blowing my brains out.

It strikes me that otherwise reasonable people come out with such unreasoned statements primarily because they lack any real arguments for not changing the current damaging status quo in portable antiquity collecting. Lacking any real arguments to counter those of those who advocate change, they resort to smear tactics and threats of violence in order to scare the opposition into silence. Perhaps they should step back and ask themselves WHY they have no arguments and draw the appropriate conclusions.

About Me

British archaeologist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Since the early 1990s (or even longer) a primary interest has been research on artefact hunting and collecting and the market in portable antiquities in the international context and their effect on the archaeological record.